The Museum

Screenings & Events

About The Film

The Israel Museum, the country’s most important cultural institution, poses for its own complex portrait in this fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary by leading Israeli documentary filmmaker Ran Tal (winner of the Israeli Oscar for CHILDREN OF THE SUN, SJFF 2008). From the sublime to the ridiculous, the film’s trenchant, ironic eye presents the Israel Museum as a unique microcosm of contemporary Israeli society—reflecting its good, bad, and rather absurd elements.

Roaming galleries and descending to the storerooms, labs, and conference rooms, the tour may seem random. To the contrary, it is artfully curated, capturing the museum’s extraordinary vitality and variety in a cinematic kaleidoscope of art, history, and national identity.

Director Bio

Ran Tal is an independent filmmaker, whose documentaries (THE GARDEN OF EDEN, CHILDREN OF THE SUN) focus on Israeli reality through a historic social perspective. Tal is the recipient of the Ophir Prize, the Jerusalem Film Festival Volgin Award, the DocAviv Film Festival Award, and teaches cinema at Sapir College and Tel Aviv University.

Special Guests

Michelle Dunn Marsh is the Executive Director and Curator at the Photographic Center Northwest. Her commitment to education, collaboration, and achievement of excellence have defined her career and gained her national recognition. Michelle’s professional experience includes fifteen years with Aperture Foundation in New York City, first as a designer and later as deputy director for the organization, and as Co-Publisher of Aperture magazine.

Elizabeth A. Brown is an independent scholar, consultant, and educator specializing in contemporary art and the history of photography. She earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. degrees, all in the history of art, from Columbia University in New York. From 2000-2011 she was Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions & Collections at the Henry Art Gallery. She has taught at the Photographic Center Northwest, the University of Washington, Seattle University, PCNW, Gage Academy, and Cornish College of the Arts.